The bending strength performances are essential for the side structures of the central underbody of vehicles (“rocker” according to well-known English terminology) in order to ensure the vehicle passengers are protected in the event of side impacts that cause the rockers to bend.
Numerous rockers are known. For example, documents: EP0619215, WO2012095991, US2013/0140854, WO2013/076818 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,439,430.
Nevertheless, none of these documents discloses vehicle underbody structures enabling a satisfactory compromise between bending strength and mass reduction.
There is a need in the market to lower the mass of vehicle frames to an even greater extent in order to reduce fuel consumption, without reducing the mechanical performance of the frame.
The object of the present disclosure is to provide rockers, as well as vehicles comprising such rockers, which improve mechanical performances in terms of bending strength in order to ensure protection for the passengers of a vehicle, whilst having minimum mass to, in particular, ensure optimal performance of the vehicle in terms of fuel consumption.